Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-07-16
FREAKS OF THE INSANE.
SOME OF THE LUOiCROUS EXPRESS
SlONS OF THE OEMENTep.

Unconscious Comicality Of Crazy Jokers
Nothing Too Absurd to BE Believed by
. ;.unaiic-InS-nuity OF Momonsniacs
Extravsgant Fancy.
Some lunatics even deliberately assume
the role of jokers. They make horrible
puns, ask conundrums and get off poor
witticisms. But IL is their unconscious
comicality that makes them rlos; LAUGH
able; and Its effect is doubled by the
gravity OF mien and tone with which they
utter their whimsical conceits, and which
every lecturer of the humorous species
must envy them. One day, when the
present writer was attending a lecture on
mental diseases in an asylum, the pro
fessor brought in a patient suffering from
illusions c, his imagination distorted
everything he saw into something differ
ent Where are yous' the professor
asked the patient. I'm mentECr.e.
was the answer. "And what are t."se
beings the professor asked, pointing to
the students The answer was consis, enj:
Lions and tigers and bears" When the
students laughed sloud at this unexpected
geological diagnosis, the patient insisted
Frequently patients consider themselves
partially or entirely transformed into ami
mails OF superior beings One woman
mentioned by Kraft Ebing insisted that
her feet had been changed into hoofs and
her head into All oN's head. A young man
became convinced in the course Of his dis
ease that he WAS the devil, so he refused
10 take food in order to starve the iiend
An Austrian patient insisted that he had
lost his eyes, and wanted to go to London
to get new pair. Being retained against
his will he refused To eat anything ON the
ground that Bismarck had poisoned his
food and that a million gods had warned
him against it.
NOTHING Is TOO ABSURD.
II often happens, as in dreams, that in
animate objects appear to the patient TO
be alive. A tower opposite an aged luna
ties window was taken by him for the
world soul" One day he saw the tower
move away. and = voice came from it
which cursed him for having destroyed
the world! Nothing Is too absurd to be
believed by the demented. One patient
having maltreated another, was taken to
task and questioned rs to his motive He
finally conf, ssed that the other man
wanted TO c, me into my ward TO bpi.d a
chimney six miles high, and pushed nm
down stairs" IN one case that was I'M
der my charge" says DIR. Hammond, 1.-The
pstient, n sta,ioner. doing business in this
city, had the delusion that unknown enc
mies-Freemasons-w acting on him
by electricity, which they sent into his
brain, through the top OF his head, by
powerful batteries which they had in their
lodge rooms In another woman
conceived that all the iron rsilings and
railway tracks had been charged with
electricity in order TO inJure her.
Crest ingenuity is often shown by mono
manlscs IN trying 10 justify their lndicrous
beliefs. Dr. Hammond knew man who
believed that his right hand was made OF
glass, and who therefore carried II IN a
stout case, 10 prevent its beng broken.
When the doctor tried TO convince him
that his hand was nesh and blood, and not
glass he retorted: IL once thought just as
You do. My brain was then incapable OF
minute differences AS well as
II can now; and, though confess that my
senses stili convey To me the idea that my
hand is Ike other peoples, Yet Know
that the conception Is erroneous, ana cor
rect II at once by my reason. My hand
looks like flesh and blood, but It's glass
for all that. Nothing Is more calculated
10 deceive ahan the senses
ExUBERANCE OF FANCY.
Anon, profasaor Erafy,- -Eb;ng,s M
,;.r,, ,,,as ono u.ho salt hadlv ned b..conSa
tb.y uonI5 no, civ. hin, . ns.,lia and
hr..a o., ..,,, ON b;s head which h. moin-
tsinaa baJ baan say.rsd from b;s hodv
- . fins cord nv . n.oro Tbs sans
,,sn oonsis.,r.5 bin,.s,f . arsst ,no,;c;on
snJ ,oId Of biS .dysntur.s in onas, of tb,
nth nol. which hs fonnd nv GOING down
mo v.snv;us woman IN tho sam.
boS,;,sI nrexiors % bcr Admission had
, half finished umbrella ssv.
non, raI;gion =, which raminds one of the
I,,a Emii Scar,a of Vienna the fsmons
80 Nh . shor, tim. h..fors his maI.Jv
nos aiscn,.rad want 20 t.i,or .nd
,rdsrsd a fnr ovsrcoat for sum,nar nxa
adding ,h,, il mnst h. lined with electric
Tcbt,
with spn moop and stars lnpatics are
N, ,a,,. fan,;Ii.r ,.rrs IN. a,;.n, hsord
|, roise which She msin,ainsd was caused
,y the roIIing ahou, of the resI Terrestrial
i 10 ,,rJ.r r. b.1 Ano,ha, a.cI.ro5
b., 81. f.u from m. yroon twspty-four
r.ars .o,o Thar. sh. loysd tho rod lin,
n Er,n,.a whn was shot on the noon
r,s director of ,b. ssvInm lived onno.ita
,er on the moon Rpi the most extraordi-
,arv exuher.nce Of fancy was shown hv
|, aem.nted o,,ic.r who considered himself
h. rrIsr nf m. world He ,Isn
.lained Ia he tho greatest opera singer
N ,h.. world and saJd no had travelled
,rou,a III. ..rtb w;th lsaia. in
.arri,gs drawn NV 600 horses whose .ta-
No. wara made ~ diamonds He was
xilI;,,g 10 share the earth witb ano,her
,.,i.rI .fter dividing II nm q, The soustor
rb.n h. Intended 10 divids nm heaven sim
Iuyius inasmuch aS he WAS flreDrOOf He